Answer to Question #158263 in Physics for Emily Kith

Question

If I’m suspending an object in the air, then later I drop it and it lands in a bowl of flour (causing an ineslastic collision) what transformations of energy occur between kinetic and potential energy (omit sound, thermal, heat etc) at these points?:

1) when the object is suspended in the air

2) While the object is falling

3) When the object lands in the flour

At what specific points are both forms of energy present?

Answer 1

1) When the object is suspended in the air, no energy transformations occur

2) While the object is falling, it may emit sound (potential transforms into kinetic)

3) When the object lands in the flour, it emits sound and generates heat

Both forms of energy (kinetic and potential) are present between the points where the object was initially and finally.